The Portland daily press., 1887-04-08
LANDING IN HAVANA.
strange and Foreign Scenes In a
Land very Near Us.
customs Unchanged Since the Days
OF the buccaneers.
The Rickety Vehicles into which Sem
ator Sherman Was Put.

Droodlng outside upon channel whose six
thousand feet depth Of water makes mount
ainous seas, writes the correspondent Of the
cincinnati Commercial Gazette who accom-
panied Senator Sherman's party to Cuba.
nor can vessel come In before in the
morning. This Is purely an arbitrary law,
,ia,s', ntaue lyr she tine OF the Buccaneers and
meyer changed, though the buccaneers pas
seq away hundred years age The Span
| lard never learns anything and never fOrgeta
| anything, and his Government Is as inquisi-
| s9rlal IA character to-day as ever, and the
Church rules in ignorance and superstition
the same as she did three hundred years ago.
| Again, every time the MascOtte or her sister
steamer, the new Oliyette enters that har-
DOT her owners are obliged to pay three hun
dred dollars to the black-mailing blood-suek-
ing Government Of Spain.
we passed by the Moro Castle, which has
q dlaDOhc history and guards the left side OF
th the narrow passage, while on our right was
the funta, and back Of Moro the Cabana
and Casa Blanca All the fOrtifeations look
hoary with age, and seme Of the guns Of Ca
sane fbng, sien1srn An ,,5s. 5sa.ngn; They are the
abelia sent over in punches, ana OF sufficient
| ealiber TO shoot duck. While we were look
ing at those antiquated smo0th-bOre popguns
we observed some big Dahlgren guns on the
Moro and two or three large pieces Of ord
nance on the Punta. Turning about / saw
near us Spanish man-Of-war, with guns OF
the most modern make and heaviest caliber.
That was another matter. That man-of-war
could steam along and knock down the old
stone forts az her leisure. The Moro and the
Cabana and Punta are highly picturesque,
but are about as much Of protection 10 the
harbor OF Havana as Fort Lafayette Is TO that
OF New York. Moro has its uses. 1t has a
lighthouse, flagstaff and dark dungeons
far down In the rocks. where prisoners hear
the waves pound over their heads, and into
whose dreadful confines many and many a
man who dared to sigh for freedom has dis
appeared never 70 return and even to this
day among the Cubans there Is lowering Of
voice and blanching Of the cheek when
Moro IS mentioned in connection with an ar
rest. The Cuban driver, when he points out
TO the frowning walls Of Moro from the Pun
Ia side, passes his f0rehnger significantly
around his neck and taps the vertebre
sharply at the base Of the brain. An, yes,
the garr0te does its work with neatness and
dispatch. The Captain General Is almost an
irresponsible despot with the power OF life
and death. He does not need TO bother him
self with law and courts and legal processes
and there are no newspapers to-, 'enOy him,
Tor the papers print nothing thateha not
passed In proof-sheets through the hanus-gf~
the Government Inspector. The Captain
General Is a military officer, and the Govern
ment almost entirely a military one. Men
are arrested with no warrant, no explana-
tion, and put In dungeons, .and there Il no
process by which they can be released. They
suddenly disappear and may never be seen or
| heard OF any more, and the relatives hardly
dare mention the names. 1t Is all with the
captain General he Is responsible only
| pected TO get rich by robbing the Cubans Just
| as uick as qhe can and go home and give an
| other man chance, after the rule that has
| existed for centuries. He Is given four years
| in which TO make a millionaire Of himself,
but 1t Is seldom he takes that amount OF
| time, and generally two or three Captains
General get in their work in that time.
As for the people, they have not one word
to say about affairs. They are as helpless as
waiting sheep in the shambles. "A Cuban
can hold no Office no matter how humble;
can have no voice In the affairs Of the Gov
ernment, and all he can do Is to treat Spain
and the Spaniards with a malignance and
ferocity born Of this condition and the horri-
bic outrage, expressions and prosecutions he
and his lovely island have suffered from that
power.
Only one thing have the Cubans succeeded
| IN defying Spain IN, and that was the name
OF their Island. 1t was solemnly h -nval
edlet named Juana, after the dauk
Ferdinand and Isabella, 1t was aftea,
Ferdinandina, after Ferdinand. Severa
other names have been given 1t by the Span
iards. At one time it was named Santiago.
and at another Ave Maria, but the old name
OF Cuba could never be wiped out, and long
ago the attempts 10 do so ceased.
The channel thousands of feet deep that
separates Havana. under the red and yellow
flag, from Key West, under the red, white
and blue, Is nothing compared with the gulf
that separates the two morally and politically.
Imagine one Of these Cubans once In Kew
West elected Justice Of the Peace or 4
member Of the City Council; the serf become
asoyerignl The dream and hope Of the Gu
ban by day and by night Is annexation 70 the
United states under any form Of govern
ment this country might give them, for any
thing from this source could not fail to be to
the dreadful rule OF the Spaniard as day Is to
night. No doubt such thing would be like
salvation to that island. What It might be to
this country Is different matter. Senator
Sherman thinks IL might prove a misfortune
In Havana harbor there Is no dockage, and
vessels anchor In the bay. As soon as the
Mascotte was tied up 10 an anchored buoy
she was surrounded by swarm Of covered
boats, that gathered like flies around hump
OF sugar. These boats are the harb0r hacks
to take you ashore, and they bear the agents
and interpreters Of the hotels. Our party
was put into steam launch and taken
ashore amid confusing babel Of 1abberlng
and shouting and gesticulating. When we
stepped upon the landing we gathered In q
group TO await the carriages that Senior
Castro. the proprietor Of our hotel, the Pasaje
| went of to secure and the Customs officers
busted themselves going through" our
| trunks.
The Spanish Official In his jaunty white
suit tight belt and fancy sword, jabbers and
| gesticulates lncessantly. He runs his hand
/ down into the corners Of your trunk, gives
an apolOgetic and deprecatory shrug OF tns
/ shoulders 10 you. as though he would say:
| II am sorry TO put you 10 any trouble. This
| is piece OF monkey business and mere mat
ter of form, and goes on to the next trunk
He hardly looks at the contents but he and
his assistants are keen students OF human
nature, and II you try TO do little snug
Cling you Will ind that the. courteous aud
apparently careless Spaniard will do more
than stick his fingers Into the contents Of
your trunk and then beg your pardon In
spectiOn Of baggage comes to be a matter al
most OF Intuition among experienced and
trained officials, and they study the person
first and the result has great influence on
the character of the examination of the Dag-
gage.
At this time the day was quite young, 1t
being only o'clock, but there was sunshine
enough TO furnish forth half dozen cities in
ana handkerchlefs raised TO mop perspiring
foreheads were getting soaked and starched
collars pretty limp. At last the carriages"
began to arrive, and such carriages. | used
to hear wonder expressed about a certain
man In Cincinnati as TO where he got his
dirty shirts, as he was never seen with a
clean one on, and one could extend that
wOnderment to the carriages of Havana.
They all look as though they might have
been brought over BY Columbus in 1890.
They are built In the Victoria style, and such
a lot of ramshakle traps never saw before.
The horse and driver were in perfect keep
ing with the rest Of the outfit. The Cuban
| horse is little bit bigger than an enterpris-
| ing sheep or q fair-sized burrO, and he Is sim
| ply little scraggly, lash-marked bundle Of
| bones, over which the hide Is tightly stretch
ed. and his harness is bewilderment Of tog-
gerry.
The first carriage" they were all alike)
was assigned TO Mr.. Sherman and his daugh-
ter, Miss Mamie, and when the tall Senator
jack-knived his six-feet-three form, sur
mounted by tall hat, into the small recep-
taele, and the driver licked up that horse
there was burst Of laughter all around, M
which the Senator joined One Of our ladies'
remarked that II was "tOO funny for any-
thing" and the Spanish officers blew tie
cigarette smoke from their nOstrils, shrugged
their shoulders and glanced at one another as
though they said, What Is 1t that amuses
those Americans.
just before the carriage nleft, Spanish
officer In gold braid and Tapping sword
crushed out the group around the big pillar.
and began telling them something apparent
ly tremendous. But you can not ALWAYS
Judge Of the importance OF Ia cOumunication
from one Of the emotional Latin race. by his
manner Of imparting It. He will shake both
hands, with hooked fingers, underone' s nose;
he will stamp his feet, put one hand upon his
breast, and raise the other 10 heaven. as
though appealing to the immortal gods he
VIII mop about and gesticulate, and behave
ike an electrified doll or a jumping-iack, and
get on more earambas than you could count,
Just 10 communicate to you some everyday
matter, or some little adventure that befel
him the night before on the PradO.
We afterwards learned that what this gent